awej 5 no.4 full issue 2014

AWEJ Volume.5 Number.4, 2014Rites of Passage in an English Class: Auto-ethnographyStephensscripts. I won‘t say much about Plato here, other than to note that the conclusions are timely:telling the truth can be dangerous. But all students can relate to the idea that since truth-telling isrisky, it may be more effective to work with allegory, and humor. Nobody wants to be told thatthey are living in the dark. But they can be made to see a different light through humor, andallegory. These are ideas that are later explored in more detail through allegories such as ―TheEmperor‘s New Clothes,‖ and through a close reading of Orwell‘s Animal Farm.The notion of rewriting scripts can be framed as a variant of escaping mental slavery.The idea of rewriting scripts comes from screenwriting/ playwriting. Actors follow rolesdefined by a script. Breaking away from a script—improvising--can lead to great art, but mostoften it is disruptive--seen as reflecting a lack of discipline or preparation on the part of the actress.The idea has been applied more broadly to psychology, interpersonal relations, or social settings. Ithas been popularized via ―family script theory‖--the notion that ―it is never too late to re-writeyour life script -- the script that has been passed down for generations.‖ 7But most often, the idea is used as in Arlether Wilson’s memoir, Rewriting theScript. Backgrounds of abuse or dysfunction have a toxic afterlife 8 ; to escaperepeating this pattern, there is a need to name the old script, and to create aBut most often, the idea is used as in Arlether Wilson’s memoir, Rewriting thenew direction and a new ending to this narrative.Script. Backgrounds of abuse or dysfunction have a toxic afterlife 7 ; to escaperepeating this pattern, there is a need to name the old script, and to create anew direction and a new ending to this narrative.Human beings all follow scripts: roles are passed on to us in various settings: from family,church, schools, politics, popular culture, etc. Most people remain largely unconscious of thosescripts, but full development as a human being (or as a culture) requires becoming conscious ofthose scripts, and then deciding which ones work for us, and which ones must be jettisoned.Those that are counterproductive or confining mustbe rewritten. This is the message of Bob Marley’sfamous line: “Emancipate yourselves from mentalslavery / none but ourselves can free our minds.”Sometimes these old scripts we attempt to rewrite are forms of ―mental slavery,‖ with a toxicafterlife. Students at first tend to think of an afterlife literally as life after death. But bydiscussing the afterlife of nuclear wastes, they grasp the concept that habits take on a life of theirArab World English JournalISSN: 2229-9327www.awej.org358